


Learned from the best

by annathecrow



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bechdel Test Pass, CIA, Female-Centric, Gen, Legacies, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Role Models, Spies & Secret Agents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 21:21:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3462491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annathecrow/pseuds/annathecrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which new coworkers can be surprising, Sharon tells a story, and every self-acknowledged bitch in this business admires Peggy Carter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learned from the best

Sharon sat in the main cafeteria at Langley (nice, but Hub’s used to be better), and slowly chewed at her sandwich. She had the table all for herself, as usual. Even after an endless string of evaluations and background checks, her new coworkers theated her like the plague. Given her former employer, she wasn’t surprised. The other alphabet agencies never liked SHIELD much, and now she could just as well have a neon sign saying “possibly homicidal Nazi” above her head. The cafeteria, locker rooms, the gun range - anywhere she showed up, the tension was almost palpable.

“Is this table free?” a cheery voice asked and made her look up. A slight Asian with a bowl cut and a casual smile that screamed “spook” at hundred feet.

“Yes, of course, ” Sharon answered, returned the smile in kind, and prepared herself. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but she doubted it would be pleasant.

The other agent quickly plonked her tray on the table and sat down.

“So,” she started, before she even sat down properly. “Peggy Carter.”

Whatever Sharon expected her to lead with, this wasn’t it. “Yeah?” she asked non-commitally, trying to guess where she was going. If it was meant to threw her off, it worked, Sharon had to admit.

“Your great aunt? Or are there two ex-SHIELD Sharon Carter’s running around?” the agent asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No, only the one. Just surprised that’s what you want to know about,” Sharon replied honestly. Telling the truth could get you far in the spy business, surprisingly enough.

“Come on, are you kidding?” the agent exclaimed. “Peggy Carter, un-recognized war hero, master spy, head of her own spy organization before she turned fifty? The role model for every self-acknowledged bitch in this business? Girl, screw the jetpack Nazis, I want to know what she was like.” She grinned at Sharon without a shred of self-consciousness over her excitement. and Sharon found herself grinning back.,

“Yeah? What are you doing here, then? Why not SHIELD?”

The other woman shrugged carelessly. “Got pinched by the old Dragon Lady herself back in college. You don’t say no to Agent May.”

Sharon chuckled. She’s met both generations of that name, and that sentence could apply to both of them. “No kidding.” She put down her sandwich. “So what do you want to hear?”

“Give me something I can’t get from a history book,” the agent asked.

Sharon took a sip of water to give herself a moment to think.

“Alright,” she said finally, “how about this: four years ago, I was still pretty fresh, but finally started to get the good assignments...”

\---

When Sharon turns up for the family Thanksgiving dinner in a black bomber jacket, combat boots, and her blonde hair in severe braids that make her look like a Neonazi’s dream girl, her usually laid-back father almost throws her out. Aunt Peggy just gives her a long look, places her frail hand on her nephew’s arm, and wordlessly sends him back inside.

“Work?” she asks her grand-niece wryly.

“Work,” Sharon answers with feeling.

Peggy nods. “Now, I hope you have at least remembered your manners...?” she raises eyebrows at Sharon. Sharon holds up a plastic bag from the local supermarket, and makes a guilty face. “Your favorite bisquits and skotch?” she tries.

Peggy sighs and gives her a look of dignified disgust. “...you will be doing the dishes tonight. Now, come, come, don’t let your family wait,” she ushers her to the dining room. When Sharon passes her in the narrow halway, the old woman leans towards her. “But dear, do wash that blood off your collar before your mother sees it, please.”

\---

“...and that’s how I managed to attend the traditional family Thanksgiving celebration two hours after wrapping up a six-month-long op on a white supremacy group in North Carolina,” Sharon finished, “and then I had to do Barton’s paperwork for another six months for the unscheduled quinjet flight,” she mumbled to herself.

The dark-haired agent snorted. “Nice. Now I get where May gets that stiff upper lip routine of hers. And since I had the honor of dealing with one of Barton’s documents, you made a great deed to all humanity. Oh, by the way,” she reached out to Sharon above the table, “My name is Monica Chang.”

Sharon shook her hand. “You already know mine,” she smirked.

Chang just rolled her eyes and turned to her food.

“Me and a few other gals drink at Jo’s every friday,” she said when Sharon finished her lunch and stood up to leave. “Mediocre booze, good service, only about a million stupid Hitler jokes. You should come.”

“I’ll think about it,” Sharon answered with a smile. It was pretty much a yes, and considering the unimpressed eyebrow Monica gave her, she understood.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as a music prompt writing practice, then it became an excuse to pull one of my comic-verse favorites into MCU, and now it's this. *shrugs* Eh, I had fun.


End file.
